New York N.Y. -- Buildings, structures, etc., Photographs
Date:
1840-1967
bulk 1900-1960
Summary:
The papers of New York City art critic, writer, and lecturer Forbes Watson date from 1840-1967 with the bulk of materials dating from 1900-1960 and measure 13.92 linear feet. Found are biographical materials, correspondence, business records relating to the Arts Publishing Corporation, records documenting Watson's work for the Public Works of Art Project and the Section of Painting and Sculpture, reference files, an exhibition file from the Pepsi-Cola Company's Third Annual Exhibition, writings and notes, ten scrapbooks and loose pages, printed materials, and photographs.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of New York City art critic, writer, and lecturer Forbes Watson date from 1840-1967 with the bulk of materials dating from 1900-1960 and measure 13.92 linear feet. Found are biographical materials, correspondence, business records relating to the Arts Publishing Corporation, records documenting Watson's work for the Public Works of Art Project and the Section of Painting and Sculpture, reference files, an exhibition file from the Pepsi-Cola Company's Third Annual Exhibition, writings and notes, ten scrapbooks and loose pages, printed materials, and photographs.
Biographical material includes Watson's Harvard diploma, documents concerning his service with the Red Cross in World War II, biographical accounts, and obituaries.
Correspondence is primarily with colleagues and includes scattered letters from Alfred H. Barr, Jr., Ira Glackens, Allen Tucker, and Max Weber. Other letters are from artists, art historians, and museum curators. A notebook contains shorthand drafts of letters from Watson.
Business records include personal business records consisting of various tax and stock records. The Arts Publishing Corporation records concern Watson's tenure as editor of The Arts magazine and contains a contract, correspondence, financial records, stockholders reports, press releases, a scrapbook, and issues of The Arts. Also included are business records pertaining to the Art in Federal Buildings, Inc..
The U.S. Treasury Department file is the largest series and documents Watson's federal employment as technical director, chief advisor, and consultant for Treasury Department's public art programs - the Public Works of Art Project and the Section of Painting and Sculpture. The files contain correspondence, financial reports, prospectuses, exhibition files, typescripts, clippings, exhibition catalogs, miscellaneous printed material, and photographs, and a scrapbook. The files contain a record of Watson's and other federal administrators' interactions with many artists during the Depression Era. Correspondence is primarily between Watson and Edward Bruce, Olin Dows, Henry and Elinor Morgenthau, and Edward B. Rowan. Found are scattered letters from artists including Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Paul Manship, and William Zorach, among many others. There are exhibition files for "Art for Bonds," "Army at War," and "War Against Japan." There are also photographs of U. S. Treasury Department events including a radio broadcast by John Dewey, Robert La Follette, Jr., and Sumner Welles.
Documents from the Pepsi-Cola Company's Third Annual Exhibition at the National Academy of Design contains a prospectus, an exhibition catalog and artists' statements.
Artist/Patron files contain reference material concerning painters, sculptors, photographers, dancers, composers, authors, art collectors, art dealers, and museum administrators. Files may include writings, notes, artworks, exhibition catalogs and other printed materials. Of particular note are photographs, which include portrait photographs of artists and of artists in their studios. Notable photographers include Ansel Adams, Arnold Genthe, Man Ray, photographs of New York City by Charles Sheeler and a photo of Henri Matisse by A. E. Gallatin. Files for Nan Watson, Symeon Shimin, and Glenn O. Coleman contain artworks. A file for Constantin Brancusi contains legal documents concerning U. S. Customs vs. Brancusi.
Art and Architecture files consist of reference material including photographs and notes concerning miscellaneous unattributed art works, American architecture, and furnishings.
Notes and writings consist of miscellaneous notes and typescripts of lectures and published articles, and notebooks.
Nine scrapbooks and loose scrapbook pages contain clippings of articles written by Watson, lists, and exhibition announcements and catalogs. Additional printed material includes clippings, copies of the Hue and Cry newspaper, exhibition announcements and catalogs, press releases, calendars of events, brochures for the Art Students League, book catalogs, published books, and miscellaneous printed material.
Photographs are of Forbes Watson; family members including his wife, painter Nan Watson; and members of the Art Students League including Peggy Bacon, Minna Citron, Stewart Klonis, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, and Reginald Marsh. There are also photographs of juries for the Carnegie Institute International Exhibitions that include colleagues Alfred H. Barr, Jr., Gifford Beal, Guy Pene DuBois, Leon Kroll, Henri Matisse, Homer Saint-Gaudens, and Maurice Sterne.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 11 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1902-1960 (Box 1; 4 folders)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1913-1960 (Box 1; 33 folders)
Series 3: Business Records, 1920-1944 (Box 1-3, 14, 22; 2.0 linear feet)
Series 4: U. S. Treasury Department File, 1926-1945 (Box 3-6, 14, 17, 22, OV 21; 3.4 linear feet)
Series 5: File for Pepsi-Cola Company's Third Annual Exhibition "Paintings of the Year," 1946 (Box 6; 5 folders)
Series 6: Artist/Patron Files, 1840-1967 (Box 6-9, 15, OV 21; 2.8 linear feet)
Series 7: Art and Architecture File, 1929-1930 (Box 9; 35 folders)
Series 8: Notes and Writings, 1875-1950 (Box 9-10, 22; 1.3 linear feet)
Series 9: Scrapbooks, 1904-1951 (Box 9, 11, 14, BV 18, BV 19, BV 20; 1.8 linear feet)
Series 10: Printed Material, 1900-1961 (Box 10, 12-13, 16-17, 22; 1.5 linear feet)
Series 11: Photographs, 1900-1950 (Box 13, 22; .4 linear feet)
All material is arranged chronologically, with the exception of the Artist/Patron Files which are arranged alphabetically.
Biographical Note:
Forbes Watson (1879-1960) worked primarily in New York City and Washington, D.C. as an art critic, writer, lecturer, and consultant to the U. S. Treasury Department's Public Works of Art Project and Section of Painting and Sculpture (Section of Fine Arts).
Forbes Watson was born on November 27, 1879 in Boston, the son of stockbroker John Watson and his wife Mary. Watson grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts, attending the Phillips Academy in Andover, and graduating from Harvard University in 1902. After a brief period of freelance writing, he was hired by The New York Evening Post as an art critic in 1911 and worked there until 1917. In 1910, he married Agnes, professionally known as painter Nan Watson.
During World War I, Watson served with an American volunteer ambulance unit with the French army, later working with the American Red Cross in Paris. After the war, he moved back to New York City and worked as art critic for The World, from the early 1920s until 1931 and as editor of The Arts magazine from 1923-1933. Watson also lectured at the Art Students League, and at various universities and arts organizations.
In 1933, Watson moved to Washington, D.C. to serve as technical director of the U. S. Treasury Department's short-lived Public Works of Art Project. In October 1934, Watson was employed as Chief Adviser to the Treasury Department's Section of Painting and Sculpture (later renamed the Section of Fine Arts) and later as Consultant to the Secretary's Office of the Treasury. During World War II, he organized various traveling exhibitions including "Art for Bonds" that promoted the sale of war bonds. Watson retired in 1946 and lived in Gaylordsville, Connecticut.
Watson was the author of numerous essays and reviews, and several books including American Painting Today and Winslow Homer, a biography of the noted American artist. With Edward Bruce, he produced a pictorial volume Art in Federal Buildings, Vol. I: Mural Designs. At his death he was working on his autobiography.
Forbes Watson died on May 31, 1960 in New Milford, Connecticut.
Provenance:
The Forbes Watson papers were donated by Watson's widow, Nan Watson, in 1961. An additional folder of material was donated in 2018 by the Museum of Modern Art via Michelle Elligott, Chief of Archives, Library and Research.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Occupation:
Art critics -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Arts administrators -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
An interview of Stewart Klonis conducted by Bruce Hooton in 1965 for the Archives of American Art.
Biographical / Historical:
Painter, art director; New York, N.Y.
General:
An unrelated interview of Leon Golub (1965) conducted by B. Hooton is also on this tape.
Provenance:
These interviews are part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.
An interview of Stewart Klonis conducted 1970 Feb. 3, by Paul Cummings, for the Archives of American Art.
Klonis discusses the Art Students League, art education, his work, and other subjects.
Biographical / Historical:
Stewart Klonis (1901-1989) was a painter and art director of New York, N.Y. Former director of the Art Students League, New York.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives' Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.
Restrictions:
This transcript is open for research. Access to the entire recording is restricted. Contact Reference Services for more information.
An interview of Robert Beverly Hale conducted 1984 Mar. 7, by Robert F. Brown, for the Archives of American Art.
Hale speaks of his childhood years living a bohemian life; personal and family friend Marcel Duchamp; his time as a student at the Columbia School of Architecture; being a biology student at Columbia University; studying painting in Paris at Fontainebleau; assisting Waldo Pierce as a secretary; the gold medal from the American Poetry Society; running the publicity department of the Arts Students League; connection to the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Art News magazine critic in 1930s; tenure in the American wing of the Met; friend Jackson Pollack and the art scene at East Hampton; discussion of drawing the planes of the human body; and writing a book on figure drawing. Hale also recalls Bertrand Russell, Julian Huxley, Henry Oliver Walker, Phil Wiley, George Bridgman, William McNulty, Stuart Klonis, Sam Lewis, Edward Root, Walter Baker, Joseph Hirshhorn, Alan Priest, Albert Gardner, Henry Geldzahler, James Rorimer; David Rockefeller, Alfred Barr, and Terrance Coyle.
Biographical / Historical:
Robert Beverly Hale (1901-1985) was an administrator, instructor, and art historian from New York, N.Y.
General:
Originally recorded on 1 sound cassette. Reformatted in 2010 as 2 digital wav files. Duration is 1 hr., 7 min.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.
Biographical data; correspondence, undated, 1915 and 1932-1982, with Romare Bearden, Martha Bloom, Peter Blume, Louis Bosa, Homer Boss, Frank Vincent DuMond, George Grosz, Joseph Hirsch, Reginald Marsh, Kenneth Hayes Miller, William Zorach and others; notes, drafts and typescripts of articles and speeches by Klonis and others; Art Students League files, ca. 1897-1982, containing a history of the League, correspondence and printed material about the election of the Board of Control, the annual scholarship balls and the testimonial dinner for Klonis, minutes of Board of Control meetings, reports, financial data and building modernization plans; subject files of letters and printed material about the Artists Equity Association, Century Club, New York City Art Center, and others;
exhibition files on Stewart and Bernard Klonis, undated and 1933-1959, containing exhibition invitations and catalogs, lists of works, letters and photographs; art appraisals by Klonis; agreements between Klonis and the Art Students League of New York, 1945-1960; income tax returns; a Vere Foster's Drawing Copy-Book of pencil sketches; drawings, collages, prints and cut-outs by Martha Bloom, Robert B. Hale, Beatrix Sherman and others; a scrapbook, 1932-1933, of clippings, exhibition catalogs and photographs; exhibition catalogs and announcements, ca. 1925-1977; printed material on the Art Students League, ca. 1886-1980; clippings, 1933-1980; photographs of Klonis, his friends and colleagues, Art Students League Costume balls, and works of art by Homer Boss, Jose de Creeft, Frank Vincent DuMond, Xavier Gonzales, William Zorach and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Art administrator, painter; New York, N.Y. Former director of Art Students League.
Provenance:
Donated 1983 by Stewart Klonis.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Resumes; business letters; clippings concerning the New York chapter of Artists Equity Association, press releases and newsletters; 75 photographs of Gallant and her work; a portrait photograph of Stewart Klonis by Peter A. Juley & Son; group photographs of Artists Equity Association members, including Samuel Adler, Henry Botkin, Peter Fingesten and others and a photograph of an Artists Equity Association testimonial dinner for Yasuo Kuniyoshi at Cafe Montparnasse, N.Y.C. March 25, 1948, in honor of his retrospective exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Biographical / Historical:
Painter; New York, N.Y.
Provenance:
Donated by Mitzi Gallant, 1979.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Occupation:
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Topic:
Artists -- New York State -- Photographs Search this
Biographical material (1878-1945), letters (1883-1928), business records (1898-1909), art works (1885-1887), scrapbooks (1885-1982), printed material (1884-1978), and photographs (1866-1974) document the career of painter and instructor Frank Vincent DuMond.
Biographical materials include a biographical account and a history of the DuMond family, 2 resumes and a graduation certificate. Correspondents include DuMond, his wife Helen Savier, his parents, various family members and friends and colleagues. Three letters, one from Reginald Marsh, discuss the murals created for the Hotel des Artistes. A 1917 letter from Frederic Clay Bartlett requests a letter of recommendation to the Century Club. Several letters (1887) from painter S. Jessie West discuss her thoughts and work.
Among the printed materials are clippings and obituaries, exhibition announcements and catalogs, and reproductions of DuMond's artworks. Art works include 9 sketches, 44 drawings and two sketchbooks, as well as a sketchbook kept by Helen Savier [Dumond], while she was a student at the Art Students League in 1893. Photographs show DuMond and his wife, family, friends, art classes, his works and the site of DuMond's murals at the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition. Colleagues pictured include Lewis Cohen, Robert Beverly Hale, Stewart Klonis, Willard Leroy Metcalf, and Kenneth Hayes Miller. Twenty-two of the artists in a group photograph autographed the mat.
Biographical / Historical:
Frank Vincent DuMond (1865-1951) was a portrait and landscape painter from New York, N.Y. DuMond was born in Rochester, N.Y., in 1865. He studied at the Art Students League from 1884 to 1888 under William Sartain and Carroll Beckwith, and at the Academie Julian in Paris from 1889 to 1891 under Jules Lefebvre, Benjamin Constant and Boulanger. Upon returning to New York, DuMond became an illustrator for Harper's Weekly and Century magazines from 1885-1892. He was an instructor at the Art Students League from 1892-1951.
Provenance:
Materials were loaned or given 1970-1984 by DuMond's daughter, Elisabeth DuMond Perry. Additional material was donated in 2005 by Robert Hubbard, who received them from his father-in-law Harry Condon, the caretaker for the Frank Dumond.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.
